For the third part of his successful sci-fi series A quiet place: day one, Johannes Krasinski hands over the reins to a Polish-American filmmaker Michael Sarnoski. If you've seen Sarnoski's impressive debut, the Nicolas Cage vehicle Pigyou will notice similar elements here. As with Pig, day one features a protagonist who has retreated into his shell, whose only friend is an animal, and who embarks on a quest in a big American city. Both films extol the joys of simple food in key scenes. Sarnoski manages to weave his own interests into Krasinski's series in a surprisingly smooth way, suggesting that the world of A quiet place can accommodate a variety of stories and perspectives.

As the title suggests, Sarnoski's prequel takes us back to the time when the aliens landed. We saw this in the prologue of A quiet place part II when a small town was overrun by the invaders. This time, we see New York City under attack by the creatures. As an introductory text explains, the city is one of the noisiest places on Earth, so it's fitting that it's under attack by a species that hunts by sound.

If you expect widespread destruction of the Big Apple, independence Dayyou might feel a little cheated. Something like that could probably be achieved through CG, but this series has always been more interested in intimate human struggles than exploding skyscrapers. For Sam (Lupita Nyong’o), the fight began long before the aliens arrived. We find her in a hospice where she is waiting out her last days before she falls ill with cancer. A kind nurse, Reuben (Alex Wolff), does his best to cheer her up, but she prefers to be alone with her cat Frodo. Reuben lures Sam with a pizza and convinces her to join a trip to Manhattan to see a puppet show. Once in the city, Sam finds herself at ground zero of the alien invasion, but with nothing to lose, she decides to get the pizza and begins the dangerous journey to her favorite pizzeria in Harlem.

A protagonist who is going to die anyway might lower the stakes somewhat, so the film gives Sam a companion in the form of Eric (Joseph Quinn), a young Englishman studying in the city. Refreshingly, Eric is absolutely terrified and handles the situation in a relatable way. Sam and Eric aren't the “strong” and “brave” types that usually star in sci-fi movies, but they form a symbiotic relationship where they rely on each other. Sam knows his way around the city, which Eric doesn't. Eric helps rescue Sam's medication from the rubble of a drugstore when she hits rock bottom. A dynamic ensues that's virtually identical to the 2021 sci-fi drama. finchin which the dying Tom Hanks builds a robot to look after his dog when he dies. Sam sees Eric as someone she can trust to look after Frodo. In their bond, Sam and Eric find strength, but only one can ultimately carry on.

A quiet place: day one benefits greatly from a pair of interesting and likable protagonists, compellingly played by two great actors, but is let down by its lackluster scenes. Sarnoski never manages to extract suspense or tension from the premise as successfully as Krasinski does, and the New York setting is wasted. We get the usual 9/11 images of crowds fleeing billowing smoke, but the city is oddly empty; for a metropolis of eight million people, there are suspiciously few bodies. Alongside 9/11, the attack on Paris's Bataclan is evoked in a sequence in which terrified theatergoers play dead while aliens march through the aisles, but it's never as suspenseful as the scenario suggests. Since this film is set in the first hours of the invasion, it's hard to digest how quickly everyone figures out the aliens can only find them by sound. While we initially worry about Frodo, the cat is too often used for cheap manipulation. In the first film, a small child dies right at the beginning, but no viewer is naive enough to believe that this ball of fur won't make it.

Leaded by: Michael Sarnoski

With: Lupita Nyong'o, Joseph Quinn, Alex Wolff, Djimon Hounsou

Eric Hillis is a film critic living in Sligo, Ireland and runs the website TheMovieWaffler.com.